Meet Élise Van Thuyne

This week, a unique new book came off the press, called The Invisble Mark – check it out here. The book offers a peek inside the world of the equally unique interior designer Élise Van Thuyne. We’d love to introduce you to Élise, so we asked her to answer some questions:
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NYC Guide for Instagrammers: just as much fun for non-instagrammers

On 14 March of this year, we received a message from Silvie Bonne:
“I’m a Belgian photographer who lives and works in New York and I’ve developed a concept for a new type of guide to New York City: the NYC Guide for Instagrammers. I’ve attached a draft so you can see what I me...

How to become a people spotter

We are all different, but some of us are more different than others
The People Spotter's Guide is a handy field guide and a catalogue of the most fascinating species that walks our earth: you of course! Exploring your very own biotope has never been easier. What's more, you earn points for every behavi...

New platform for Hidden Secrets

From 5 awesome biking tours in Berlin to the 5 best art book stores in New York, from the 5 most eye-catching modern buildings in Paris to the 5 best street markets in Lisbon; as from today you can find all these – and a lot more – hidden secrets and cool addresses online, on the brand new website&n...

Coming up in June: 2000 new Hidden Secrets!

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” That’s what Saint Augustine said some 1600 years ago, and we think the man still has a strong case - don’t you? That’s why we love making travel books so much, books that take you places waiting to be discovered...

Preview: architects and their houses II

The book Belgian Architects and Their Houses II displays the houses and vision of sixteen important Belgian architects. Below, we offer you a little preview with a sneak peek inside the house of Johannes Robbrecht and Tinne Verwerft.
We have been known to refer to our house as ‘ee...

Advice for your own greenterior

Photographer Bart Kiggen and journalist Magali Elali, the duo behind the successful interior design blog Coffeeklatch, have a passion for everything that grows and blossoms. In their brand new book Greenterior. Plant loving creatives and their homes, they show the homes of twenty creative people who share their...

Eye-catching letters

Are you one of those people who at the end of each year have to admit that yes, they’ve spent way too much time staring at a computer screen, and yes, they swear that in the new year they will surely go out a lot more? Well, we would like to encourage you to make that resolution one more time, because it ...

Adventures in abandoned places

Reginald Van de Velde works as a graphic designer in an advertising agency and has a passion for photography and travel. He combined those passions in his book Between Nowhere & Never, with photographs of abandoned, forgotten and withered places everywhere in the world. Adventure is always lurking around th...

5 places to go for lunch right next to the water

If you didn’t know this allready, we’re telling you know: rivers are so important for the wellbeing of our planet and our species, so we should take great care of them. Here’s our small ode to the rivers of our world: a list of places to go for lunch or dinner, right next to the water
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Luster tips 5 ideal reading spots

At Luster, we're not only into making beautiful books, we're also always on the lookout for new places to hang out, eat, drink and of course read books. Here our five places where we love to spend time on rainy days, reading books, wondering a bit, and sharing our reading experiences with others.
Phili...

The 5 best shops for Dutch design

Dutch Design Week is in full swing. For those of you who have planned a wintery hideaway in Amsterdam in the weeks to come, Luster has assembled a list of the five best shops to score Dutch design items. This list, along with many others, can be found in The 500 Hidden Secrets of Amsterdam, by Saskia Naafs &amp...

Luster spoke with: Saskia Naafs and Guido van Eijck

Saskia Naafs and Guido van Eijck both work as freelance journalists in Amsterdam. Saskia regularly writes for newspaper Het Parool, about music, culture and life in the city. Guido writes about issues such as education for De Volkskrant and is editor-in-chief of Yournalism, a crowd-funding platform for investig...

The 5 best bookshops in Brussels

Brussels, Belgium’s lively capital, has a lot to offer: some of the finest art museums and architectural gems, but also exciting gastronomy and a vivid and varied nightlife. In The 500 Hidden Secrets of Brussels, written by local journalist Derek Blyth, you’ll discover some of the cities most curiou...

4 artists you shoudn't miss at the Biennale Arte in Venice

A few days ago the art biennial of Venice opened its doors. Next to the offical program, with a giant number of exhibitions in the country-pavilions in the Giardini and in the Arsenale, there are also the so-called ‘collateral events’ in different locations spread all over the city. We wandered arou...

5 Belgian designers to see at the Design Week in Milan

The world’s biggest design fair is the Salone del Mobile, which takes place every year in Milan (this year from April 14th 'till April 19th) and attracts about 400.000 visitors, anxious to see what’s hot and happening in the world of design. Designers and manufacturing companies traditionally pr...

5 tiny but wonderful museums in Belgium

Today #MuseumWeek was launched on Twitter, a free-for-all where museums across the world share and exchange stories with the public, and it has already enjoyed huge success on its opening day. In honour of this great initiative, we listed 5 tiny but wonderful museums in our tiny but wonderful country:
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5 talented Scandinavian designers

See Scandinavia and then have a baby’: that was the version of ‘see Naples and die’ of interior designer Jessy Van Durme and photographer Piet Albert Goethals. Now they are the proud parents of a son, Ivar, and the result of their journey through Scandinavia is available in shops and onl...

5 temporary buildings that are more than beautiful enough to last

In 2014 the most important prize in the world of architecture, the Pritzker Prize, was awarded to the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. He designed the Centre-Pompidou-Metz and the beautiful Curtain Wall House in Tokio, but also a number of buildings made out of paper, cardboard and other perishable materials. Th...

5 romantic filmsets in Paris

Personally, we aren't the biggest fans of saving up all the romance for Valentinesday, but hey, any excuse to visit Paris is a good one. And there's no better destination for a romantic getaway than the City of Lights. If that's the plan, don't forget to bring along The 500 Hidden Secrets of Par...

5 out-of-the-box thinking city breweries in Belgium and the Netherlands

Every now and then we get hold of a book and that makes us sigh just a little, because we wished we had made it ourselves. Barley & Hops, The Craft Beer Book (gestalten) by Sylvia Knopp is such a book. It contains portraits of brewmasters who work according to traditional methods and, most importantly, with...

5 surprising museums in the Ardennes

What is it about the Ardennes tht people seem to either love or hate? Okay, maybe ‘hate’ is a bit strong, but to say the region is frowned upon would be an understatement. True, the Ardennes isn’t the place where one should expect a lot of glamour or hip must-be events, but some of us here at ...

5 graphic designers who sell beautiful art prints

Bare walls might have something appealing about them, but buy hanging up a few carefully chosen prints or posters you can easily add a lot of personality and style to your home. Need some inspiration? Here's a list of 5 very talented young designers who sell their inspiring contemporary work online.
(This ...

5 modernist house museums, a car ride away from Brussels

Last year Villa Tugendhat in Brno finally opened its doors to the public – the renovation had taken quite some time. Europe can now boast a new beautiful modernist house museum, a site of pilgrimage for lovers of architecture who are given the chance to admire beautiful interiors that once were only to be...

Muller Van Severen Book

October is a rather festive month here at Luster: we’re planning three book presentations in the next two weeks. And we’ve already hosted one last week: on Friday we had a drink (or a couple of them) with a nice crowd to celebrate the launch of the Muller Van Severen Book. We worked hard on it and w...